The present invention relates to the field of automated payment facilities, such as exit facilities for parking garage or parking lot applications.
Exit facilities for parking lots and parking garages are well known. In the typical exit facility, an exit gate bars egress from the parking area until payment has been registered. In a typical parking facility, a live attendant sits within a tollbooth at the exit. The attendant calculates the value of parking, receives payment and activates the gate to permit a vehicle to pass.
In recent years, automation has reached the exit facility for parking lots and parking garages. In the automated system, a vehicle operator pays the cost of a parking validation ticket at a remote site. The ticket itself is encoded to indicate that payment has been received. The vehicle operator then proceeds to the exit facility where the validated ticket is read and registered. When the appropriate payment signal is sensed by the exit equipment, the gate opens allowing egress. One difficulty in facilities of this type is that the payment feature is isolated from the exit facility. In a typical situation, live attendants occupy adjacent booths to take payment in the likely event that the commuter fails to validate his/her parking ticket prior to exit. Thus, while this type of automated facility obtains some of the benefits of the automation, it still does not completely satisfy or achieve the objective of a fully automated system. In fact, in a typical installation, more vehicles pass through the operator attendant booths than the fully automated booth.
One decided advantage of the live parking attendant is the capability of human interaction. Even in these days of automation, many individuals still prefer the human touch, particular when one is paying money. The fully automated systems do not have the capability of providing any human interaction, which often makes these types of systems undesirable in spite of the conveniences that they may otherwise present.
There remains a need for an automated payment facility that combines the benefits of the human attendant with the benefits of the automated system.